


Skeletons in the woods: Horror Timeline

by Sephypsycologist



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, HorrorTale, Horrorfell, Horrorswap, the horrorfell and swap boys are my own, the relationship thus far is only if you squint
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-22
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:48:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22355119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sephypsycologist/pseuds/Sephypsycologist
Summary: So maybe things went a little bit worse for the wild living skeletons.And maybe Reader didn't get there just by moving in innocently.After all, a house nobody wants to live in out of terror is pretty cheap...
Relationships: Papyrus (Undertale)/Reader
Comments: 12
Kudos: 86





	Skeletons in the woods: Horror Timeline

You’d just bought this house and were not looking forward to the cleanup work that would have to be done.

The last occupants had run away screaming about monsters in the woods, and you just rolled your eyes. Really? Monsters? Those quiet folks who never even looked at anybody else and shuffled away as fast as possible? Psh.

Taking your protective mask and strapping it on, you prepared for cleaning out the house, getting rid of rotten food and having a long hot shower afterward.

–

You did it, all of it, out of the fridge, into the trash, and now you were just climbing into bed after getting the hideous smell of sour milk out of your nose.

The sheets were so nice, and you just wanted to collapse into the mattress and close your eyes.

Except something very loud was banging outside.

And you lived in the middle of the woods now, so whatever it was probably was going through your new mound of rancid food.

Groaning, you got a cookie pan from your kitchen and a spoon to use in spooking animals away from your cans. Maybe there was a nest of raccoons or something.

But nothing prepared you to open your back door and see two massive skeletons glaring at your doorway.

A scream wanted to come out, but you tamped it back and just met their unpleasant expressions, “Can I help you?”

They stared, and you took the time to look them over. The tallest one was incredibly skinny (but bones made that more believable), and wore a large tattered red scarf over a loose and far too short t-shirt that may have been white at some point. Right now, it was splattered with red and you didn’t want to think about what that might be. The other one was slightly shorter but looked like he could easily snap a tree in two with a punch. His bones were thick and his eye light (just the one) was huge and red, focused with a tight black pupil right on you.

“YES.” Just the one word, on a big white board that looks suspiciously like the shape that is missing in the dust on the top of your porch. The tall skinny one, holding the board, comes forward a step and you brace yourself as his crooked, jagged mouth leans down to your level, letting you see the puma ears flicking on his head as he writes, “WHY DID YOU THROW ALL OF THIS AWAY? A LOT OF THIS WAS SALVAGEABLE, AND YOU’RE BEING EXTREMELY WASTEFUL!”

“Humans can’t eat things with mold on them,” you just state it. You know, from asking questions and investigating yourself, that monster food doesn’t ever spoil. “Human food becomes dangerous for humans to eat once it’s too old.”

The bigger one leers at you angrily, the dismissive shake of his head expressing his disbelief of your words, and you see tiny round ears on the sides of his head. He’s a bear. You are face to face with two of the biggest predators in the forest ecosystem.

“I’m not lying. Just facts here. Or have you guys never even talked to a human before?” wherever this sassy attitude it coming from, you hope it doesn’t get you ripped to shreds. These guys are miffed at you for wasting food, and you can’t imagine why.

You see a glow and turn. The skinny one has a cell phone?!

The puma squeaks and shows something to the bear, which causes him to slump a bit, then putting his phone away, he turns to you and shakes a finger scoldingly before writing on the board again, “THAT WAS VERY IRRESPONSIBLE OF YOU TO LET ALL THIS PERFECTLY GOOD FOOD GO TO WASTE BY LETTING IT SPOIL!”

“I just moved in!” the bear seems to be getting angrier by the second if his slowly clenching fists are anything to go by. “That stuff was from the people who lived here before me and they left it here. I had to get rid of it to keep myself from getting sick!”

Looking at you warily, the puma moves close enough his skull is in your face as he takes a deep sniff. Whatever he smelled, the puma’s whole body language shifts to a more open, happier one. His words fly across the board, “AH, YOU ARE A NEW HUMAN. WE HAD NO IDEA, SO PLEASE FORGIVE OUR IRE A MOMENT AGO. IT SEEMS WE HAD NO GROUNDS ON WHICH TO TORTURE YOU FOR A SIN YOU DIDN’T COMMIT.”

T-torture you? “What?” you’re weirded out now, and more than little extra terrified.

The stout bear takes the board and wipes it clean on his jacket sleeve (the only clothes besides his shorts on his body) before writing, “it’s a crime to waste food in a famine. But seems you had good reason to toss this. We can’t get sick, so we’ll be taking it all but…” he growled softly at you, “don’t let this happen again.”

“Famine?” what famine are they talking about?

“ARE…ARE THE HUMANS NOT ALSO RUNNING OUT OF FOOD?” the puma questions once he reclaims the board, “OUR GAME IN THE FOREST IS DWINDLING AND SINCE WE’RE NOT EXACTLY FOND OF LARGE GROUPS OF HUMANS, WE CAN’T ACCESS ANY COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE MEALS.”

The bear grumbled toward the puma as he picked up a fuzzy orange and plopped the whole thing into his mouth. Oh gross…

“So you were mad at me for wasting food because you guys are starving. Makes sense, I guess, but you could have, I dunno, just asked me to pick up your groceries for you? You have to live near here if you already spotted my cans,” okay, maybe the attitude wasn’t going away. Your blank mind was apparently very brave when you had no input for it.

Making a soft growling noise, the puma gave his companion a soft smack on the shoulder and made a few more noises before he responded to what you had said, “THIS GRUMP HAD SAID HUMANS WOULD NEVER HAVE HELPED US AND ONLY WANT US HURT, THUS WHY WE HAD TO FRIGHTEN OFF THAT COUPLE WHO ARE ACTUALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS WASTE.”

Making a whine, the bear scrubbed a hand down his face, making a sickening bone on bone grinding noise.

The puma smiled and grabbed your hand, shaking it vigorously before letting go to write, “YOU MAY CALL ME PAPYRUS, AND THAT IS MY BROTHER, SANS. WE’RE YOUR NEW NEIGHBORS AND WE HOPE YOU CAN KEEP YOUR WORD ABOUT THE GROCERY RUNS BECAUSE WE HAVE A WHOLE FAMILY TO FEED! HAVE A GOOD SLEEP!”

You don’t think that’s going to happen but you’re glad when the skeletons walk away into the darkness.

–

It takes all you have not to scream when you go out to your garden the next morning and find Papyrus there, his crooked and broken smile in place.

“HELLO NEIGHBOR HUMAN! I SPENT ALL NIGHT THINKING ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED AND TRYING TO FIND WAYS TO HELP YOU MAKE SURE YOU CAN SALVAGE THINGS BEFORE THEY REACH TOTAL DECAY LEVEL!” His board is a little dirty today, but you think you can probably clean it if he asks you. If he does, though, you aren’t sure you want to encourage him to keep coming back. He is sitting, curled up on one of the walls to your garden, his long limbs crimped against his chest as his long dusty brown tail swished slowly.

“Oh…uh…did you not want to….sleep? at all?” you ask as he opens up like a ladder and steps down from the wall.

“I DON’T SLEEP. JUST ANOTHER PERK OF BEING ME! ANYWAY,” he pulls out his phone and shows a web page of guidelines for what food can be salvaged after the appearance of mold and how to do so, “I FOUND THIS! I THOUGH MAYBE IT WOULD BE HELPFUL BUT I HAVE NO WAY TO PRINT THIS OUT…”

Looking it over, you state, “Wow, this is actually good advice if you’re tight on funds. Did you not go to the library? They offer printing there.”

Papyrus blinked at you (bone lids, strange) then took his board in hand, “LIBRARY? IS THAT IN TOWN? WE CAN’T GO IN TOWN. TOO MANY HUMANS.”

“Oh, right,” You nod, understanding now after you’d forgotten. “Why don’t we print it here? I have a printer.”

He clapped his ragged gloves together and rushes to stand next to your door eagerly. Very very odd, this skeleton.

Letting him in with great trepidation, Papyrus steps inside after you and looks around, slightly crouched to fit his large self inside.

Squeaking marker going, he wrote as he followed you to the computer and printer, “YOU HAVE A LOVELY NEST, HUMAN NEIGHBOR! SUCH A PITY WE NEVER ATTEMPTED TO BEFRIEND THE PREVIOUS HUMANS OR WE COULD HAVE SEEN THIS LUXURY SOONER! YOUR NEST HAS LOTS OF SOFT PLACES TO SLEEP ON, SO I ASSUME YOUR CLAN WILL JOIN YOU SOON.”

“I don’t have a clan, Papyrus. Humans just have family, and I actually plan to live here alone,” you confess softly, and he stops in his tracks.

Wiping his board down on his scarf, Papyrus seems incredulous, “ALONE?! A HUMAN, IN THESE WOODS, ALONE? OH NO NO NO, YOU HAVE TO BE ADOPTED INTO THE CLAN AT ONCE. SANS WILL FUSS, BUT IT’S FOR YOUR SAFETY AND EDUCATION.”

“Um, what?” you see him rush around, rubbing his cheek against various places on your walls, his back against your cabinets, then grabbing hold of his tail and scrubbing it vigorously over the front door on both sides. You realize he’s scent marking your house as his. This is weird.

“THERE.” He writes when he’s done. “NOW THE OTHERS KNOW YOU ARE MY TERRITORY. OR, YOUR HOUSE IS, ANYWAY. I DON’T THINK YOU’D BE QUITE OPEN TO BEING CUDDLED QUITE YET SO I WON’T DO THAT RIGHT NOW.”

Cuddled…these skeletons are so strange. “Do you want to pull that website up on my computer so we can print the instructions?” maybe you can get him back on topic.

Squeaking softly, he shows his fangs a bit as he goes to sit next to the printer, showing you his phone while you type it into your browser and do the printing shortcut.

The two of you watch the instructions print in silence, listening to the noises of printing, and you see the wonder in his expression as each page slips out. They…don’t really see tech much, do they?

When it’s done, Papyrus writes on his board, “CAN WE TAPE THEM TO YOUR CABINETS? I JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE YOU DON’T FORGET.”

“Sure.” Why not? Your house is scent marked as his, he seems to genuinely want to help, and the longer you’re with him, the more you like Papyrus. He’s different than anybody you’d ever met, but he’s also so gentle with his steps, giving you space to get into the kitchen despite how clearly eager he is as you take out the tape from the whatnot drawer.

You tape the instructions to the cabinet next to the fridge, and also get out the board cleaner and cloth that you’d spotted. “Here. Use this to clean the smudges off your board. That way it’ll write better.”

Literal sparkles appear around his head, and he holds himself very tightly for a few moments before doing as you instructed and writing on the fresh white surface, “I HAD TO HOLD VERY HARD TO KEEP FROM SCOOPING YOU UP IN JOY! THANK YOU! I’LL BE SENDING MY COUSIN AMBER BACK WITH THIS AND OUR GROCERY LIST, SO BE ON THE LOOK OUT FOR HIM! HE’S A SKELETON, LIKE ME.”

Before you had a chance to say much more, or even ensure Papyrus took the cleaner with him, the puma had zipped out the door and leapt over your garden fence.

–

You nervously waited by your front door for this Amber person to show up.

The cousin of a bear and a puma could be anything, but your mind is imagining all kinds of large, scary animals, even if they don’t live in this part of the world.

So deep in your own thoughts, you didn’t hear the footsteps until someone knocked on the garden gate.

You yelp, and hear a soft chuckle in return. Looking up, your eyes go wide.

This must be Amber, if the huge size and fangs of this skeleton meant anything. He had a longer skull, like Papyrus, but his fangs were shaped differently and he had a large hole in the very center of his head. His eye lights were an orangey color, and slightly off kilter now that you were seeing them move as he scanned you.

“Uh, hi. You’re Amber, right?”

The little black and white ears on top of his skull perked a bit, and he nodded, pulling out the board and a sheet of paper that he handed to you.

“that’s me,” he wrote, then continued to write after showing you his first sentence, “papyrus said you were really open to helping us, so I wanted to see for myself.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you,” You murmur as you read over the list. “Um, this is…well, it’s a lot of groceries. I don’t know how I can pay for all this, so I’ll get a little of everything and go to the store every week. I can’t stock up like this on my salary.”

Amber shifts, and you look up to see him suddenly right next to you, making you jump again.

This gets another laugh, and he shows you the board, “We meant that as more of a ‘whole three months’ amount, but if you’re just going to go every week, I can pear it down for you.”

“Oh. Ok, yes, that’s good for me, thank you.” You look at him and finally see the tail of this lanky skeleton, and everything clicks. “Oh, you’re a badger!”

He looks up from where he was about to write some more and just grins, then goes back.

When he shows you the board, you giggle. It’s one sentence and then a doodle of a badger smacking at bees. “honey badger don’t care”

“How do you know about that? That’s an oldie but a goodie, but how?” you head inside and motion for him to follow.

When you get the board cleaner, he shows you the board again, “we went to town a lot when we were younger, but stuff happened and we’re kind of burnt out on dealing with big groups of humans.”

“Oh. yeah, that makes sense. I wish I could give you a comprehensive meme education right now, but I do have to go shopping. Here’s my list, maybe we can figure out a way to make this easier if you guys are having issues getting food.” You’d brought your list up on your phone, and you were a little surprised when Amber pulls a pair of (clearly not his) glasses out of his pocket and squints through them to see the screen.

“Amber, do you need glasses to read?” you ask, and he sighs, nodding.

The board is cleaned, and he writes, “I need them in general since my eyes are off center, but you can’t get an exam if you don’t go into town. No exam, no prescription, no glasses.”

“Geeze…” you felt awful, even more so when you heard his stomach growl and he winced. “okay, that’s it.”

Getting up, you run into the kitchen and take all your non-perishable groceries out of the cabinets. “I can eat something else for a few days; you guys need food now.”

Amber is watching, clearly shocked, but he makes grabby hands when you come back with a warmed up can of ravioli. “Yeah, I made this for you cause I’m not letting you leave hungry. I couldn’t exactly stop Papyrus earlier, but I can feed you, anyway.”

He nods and goes to town on the can, scraping it clean with the metal spoon and whining when it was empty. A dark orange-yellow tongue, like living caramel, laps the sauce from his face and the can, and then he looks at you.

“Woah….you guys can make tongues?” you can’t help it coming out amazed, and he waggles his brow bones at you in a silly manner.

“Okay, okay, yeah, weird thing to notice, but I haven’t exactly been around skeletons a lot before.” Amber just purrs softly as you take the can and spoon back. “The can goes to recycling and the spoon in the dishwasher. And you, Mr. Hungry Badger, get to go home with all those cans so your family can ea right now.”

When you come back from the kitchen, he’s vanished with the cans, but left you another doodle on the board.

It’s a little badger with a round tummy sleeping in some flowers and a big, stylized “thank you” over it.

You think your heart grows three sizes seeing that. Wow, the Grinch really was on to something.

–

Groceries were bought, enough for you and the recommended fraction Amber had left on the list he’d given you.

Still, you buy a little extra for a plan you hatched after Amber left that night.

You were going to have a feast for your neighbors, and only them.

How could you not want to, after seeing them literally digging in your trash for food, looking at the instructions Papyrus had stayed up all night finding for you, and watching Amber scrabble at a can of off-brand ravioli like it was ambrosia?

The drawing Amber had left you was your lock screen now. It made you happy, made you feel useful and good. And as you began your preparations, it was your inspiration. You didn’t know how many skeletons were in the woods, but you’d feed them all well come this weekend.

A turkey, a ham, all the fine things you’d grown up seeing at a thanksgiving dinner on TV, that was going to be on the big picnic blanket on your lawn come Saturday. And oh you watched every YouTube tutorial you could to make sure you did it right. How to keep the turkey moist, the best way to cut and glaze a ham, cranberry sauce from scratch or canned? You’re sure Google has no idea what to do with you by the end of your out-of-season searching.

But you take things slow, step by step, and some part of you keeps asking, “Why are we doing this?”

And you just have to say, out loud sometimes, “Because it’s the right thing to do.”

When someone is hungry, you feed them. When someone is sad, you comfort them. That’s just what needs to be done.

Now you’re going to make sure you do something about a situation you stumbled into, instead of just helplessly muddling through it.

–

Saturday evening, you laid out a huge blanket on the front yard, then began to set out your food.

When you’d gotten the first couple of dishes out, you see Papyrus rocketing up to your fence and you beam. He grabs the board from where you’d left it on the wall and scribbles, “HUMAN! WHY ARE YOU PUTTING YOUR DISHES FULL OF VERY DELICIOUS SMELLING FOOD OUTSIDE?!”

“Because I’m inviting you and your family to have dinner with me and I didn’t know how else to do so. Also because you’re very tall people and I thought you’d be more comfortable outside,” You smile and you see him gape at you before standing up straight, saluting, and running back into the woods.

It doesn’t take long for him to come back, and he brings Sans, Amber, and three other skeletons you had yet to meet. He picks up his dropped board and quickly writes, “AND YOU’RE SURE IT’S ALRIGHT FOR US TO EAT ALL THIS?”

“Positive. I set aside two servings’ worth for myself, one for now, one for later. The rest of this is all for you guys,” you beam as Papyrus hops the gate and Amber opens it with a happy grin while the others file in quietly, almost suspicious of you.

Well, you take that back. The possum who stayed close to Amber did not seem wary at all, but overwhelmed and so happy as Amber set him down and gave him some of the ham.

You had another surprise, and from a small plastic bag near your seat you pull out five more marker boards. “I thought you all deserved to have one, and I ended up getting extra since I didn’t know how many of you there were. Now you can all say what you want.”

Papyrus squeaks and hands out the boards, and you watch the little gray ears of the possum twitch as his pink tail curls around his leg while he writes, “OH STARS, THANK YOU SO MUCH! I’M CYAN, AMBER’S MY BROTHER, YOU’VE ALREADY DONE SO MUCH FOR US JUST GETTING US GROCERIES AND FEEDING MY BROTHER AND TALKING WITH PAPYRUS! WE’RE SO GRATEFUL!”

“Cyan,” you ease your voice as he sniffled, “I’m really touched that you feel that way, but I want you to enjoy yourself. I can’t do this kind of feast very often, but I wanted to meet you and the rest of your family, and I wanted to be sure you all had at least one very good meal while we figure out how best to handle this little arrangement of me running groceries for you all.”

Sans, watching as his brother is happily inhaling a plate of nothing but mashed potatoes, shows you his board. “how do we know you aren’t just wanting us to eat this to poison us?”

Amber smacked his hand when he read the words and growled a bit. Cyan and Papyrus both seemed upset by it, too, even if the other two hadn’t even batted an eye.

You looked at them, curious. The taller one of this red clad duo was some sort of crocodilian, an undulating reptilian tail with ridged back scales making it obvious. His companion, shorter but just as bone thin and missing at least a quarter of the back of his skull, worse than Sans even, was giggling softly and staring right at you.

“Um, hello, you two.” You try to ignore the telling off Sans seems to be getting, “We haven’t had a chance to meet before.” Introducing yourself, you wait for their response.

The taller finally takes his board in hand and writes, “I am Chief. This is my brother, Pepper. We don’t quite trust you, but seeing as you fed Amber previously and your canned goods were clean, we will eat despite what Sans has said.”

You nod, “Understandable. Whatever has happened here to sour humanity to you guys, I get that it’s going to take time for you all to count me as trustworthy. So whatever you wish to do, do it.”

There’s no real response, except for Amber ripping off the turkey’s leg and noisily eating it. You watch him for a minute before laughing. “Well, that must be what you wish then.”

He nodded in agreement, and Cyan wrote on his board, “Really, we’re so happy to have this. You’re too kind.”

Papyrus, who is sitting closest to you, leans against you and purrs, even if he doesn’t stop eating. That’s fine with you, though, and you just smile as you start on the plate you’d made yourself.


End file.
